West Coast Number Theory Conference

2004 West Coast Number Theory Conference

Latest News:

12/20/04: New link: Expense Claim Form, (or as an editable word document). Have a safe trip home.
12/18/04: New links: Schedule of Talks and List of Participants. The at symbol (@) in the emails in this list have been replace by an asterisk to (hopefully) thwart data miners. I appologize if I have been the cause of any junk mail.
12/9/04: We'll have wireless internet access in the lecture room (see 'Facilities' below).
12/9/04: It looks like a cold front will move in on Thursday (visit The Weather Channel for an up to date prediction).
12/9/04: Thank you all who have paid for registration and the banquet. Late registration is welcome -- please pay upon arrival.
10/12/04: Registration fees have been set.
9/20/04: Problem sets were added (bottom of the page).
9/12/04: Details of the banquet are posted below.
9/7/04: We have funding (unofficially)! See below for details.

Organizer: Arthur Baragar, baragar@unlv.nevada.edu.

Dates: Thursday December 16th to Monday, December 20th, 2004.

Schedule (details to be worked out after the Banquet):
Thursday: Registration, Banquet, and organizational meeting.
Friday: Morning and afternoon sessions.
Saturday: Morning session, afternoon off.
Sunday: Morning and afternoon session.
Monday: Morning session.

Location (see campus map or the parking map):

The lectures will be in BPB 102 (the northeast corner of the physics building, the circular part of building BPB on the parking map, and approximately at the v in "University" on the area map) on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus.
The banquet will be held in the Boyd Dining Room on the second floor of BEH (building 20 on the campus map). Drinks will begin at 6pm, dinner will begin at 7pm. The location of the organizational meeting is still to be worked out.

Facilities:

Our room, BPB 102, has two whiteboards that can be moved up and down, has an overhead projector, and a PC (Windows) connected to an LCD projector. The LCD projector can be connected to most (all?) laptops. The room has an internet drop, to which I plan to hookup an 801.11b wireless router. Barring snafus, the internet will then be available to anyone with a laptop and wireless capabilities.

Registration:

The registration fee for this year's conference is $40 (US). Please make cheques payable to the Board of Regents. Please include payment for the banquet, if you wish to buy a ticket or tickets. Please send payments to
    Arthur Baragar
    Department of Mathematical Sciences, Box 4020
    University of Nevada Las Vegas
    4505 Maryland Parkway
    Las Vegas, NV 89154-4020
Please send payments to arrive by December 3rd. If writing a cheque in US funds is a problem because you live outside the US, please let me know and make payments at the Banquet.

Banquet:

The banquet will be on Thursday, December 16th, in the Boyd Dining Room on the second floor of BEH (building 20 on the campus map). Drinks will begin at 6pm, dinner will begin at 7pm. Dinner will be buffet style (it's Las Vegas), and will include chicken picatta with mushrooms, dinner rolls, salad, Italian vegetables, penne pasta with marinara or alfredo sauce, meat balls, and New York cheese cake with strawberry puree. The cost is $25 per person. Non-alcaholic beverages are included. Beer is $3 per bottle, wine is $3 per glass or $15 per bottle.

Getting Here:

By plane: You’ll fly into McCarran airport, which is extremely close to UNLV. In fact, one could walk from the airport, if only there were sidewalks …. A portion of the airport is shown on the map of the area. When you get here, set your watch for the Pacific Time Zone.

By car: Most people arriving by car will be coming in on I 15.

From the south on I 15, take the I 215 exit going east, and take the exit for the airport. In the tunnel, stay to the right and follow the signs for Swenson Ave. The first light will be Tropicana Ave. The Thomas and Mack Center, which is part of UNLV, is on the northeast corner of Swenson and Tropicana.
Those coming on I 15 from the north should exit onto Tropicana going east. Follow this across the strip and couple more miles to Swenson.
Those coming in on 95 from the southwest should get onto I 215 going west. Take the airport exit. When you enter the tunnel, follow the directions as above.
Those arriving from the northeast (anyone?) on 95, take I 15 south when you get to the center of Las Vegas. Follow the directions for those coming in from the north.

Accommodations (see map of area):

We do not have a particular hotel for this conference. Our times are usually a slow period for Las Vegas so I expect rates to be low. For those with a car, staying on the strip might be to your liking. For those not planning to have a car, the local hotels are listed below. Visit www.lasvegas.com for more hotels. The links provided below are for your convenience. They may not have been the best choices for links.

Near the intersection of Flamingo and Paradise, 4000 S Paradise and 400 E Flamingo: This area has been developed a lot in recent years. There is a very good selection of restaurants, mostly middle to upper scale. Many of these places will have shuttles to and from the airport, and to and from the strip. Ask them when making reservations.

· Fairfield Inn (Marriot), 3850 Paradise Road, (702) 791-0899. (The furthest away.)

· La Quinta, 3970 Paradise Road, (702) 796-9000.

· Candlewood Suites, (702) 836-3660. Or visit the site http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cw/1/en/home.

· Terrible’s Hotel and Casino, 4100 Paradise Road, (702) 733-7000. (Formerly the Continental, if anyone remembers that from the last time the WCNT Conference was held here.)

· Comfort Inn, 4350 Paradise Road, (702) 938-2000. (I think these are converted apartments.)

· Crown Plaza, 4255 Paradise Road, (702) 369-4400.

· Embassy Suites, 4315 Swenson Street, (702) 795-2800.

· Key Largo Hotel and Casino (Quality Inn), 377 E Flamingo, (702) 733-7777. (An older property, cheap but quite adequate.)

Near the intersection of Paradise and Harmon, 4500 S Paradise and 500 E Harmon: There are some midscale restaurants here, but not as many.

· The Hard Rock Hotel, 4455 Paradise Road, (702) 693-5000.

· Amerisuites, 4520 Paradise Road, (702) 369-3366. Or visit the site http://www.amerisuites.com/hotels/ajlg.shtml.

· St. Tropez, 455 E Harmon Ave, (702) 369-5400.

South of Tropicana: These hotels are cheap, but I recommend checking the prices at the Key Largo, Terrible’s, and even St. Tropez before considering these. They are not close to any restaurants. I think these two are operated by the same people.

· Best Western McCarran International, 4970 Paradise Road, (702) 798-5530. (Best Western has their own website, but it will hijack your browser, so I removed that link.)

· Howard Johnson Inn, 5100 Paradise Road, (702) 798-2777.

There are also plenty of restaurants on Maryland Parkway, between Tropicana and Flamingo, but there are not any hotels on that side. These restaurants range from fast food (In and Out, McDonalds, Subway) to midscale. The Crown and Anchor, a well known British Pub, is on Tropicana east of Maryland Parkway. It made the top ten list on some survey of Las Vegas restaurants, though I am not sure how (something about the fish and chips). I have a T-shirt from there autographed by Roger Waters.

Parking (see the parking map):

Most final exams will be held Monday through Thursday. A few exams are scheduled for that Friday. The parking office has informed me that parking restrictions will be in effect on the Thursday and Friday, but not on Monday, 12/20. That is, parking is free on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. For Friday, you may purchase a parking pass for $2/day, or park in Lot S. I will be selling parking permits at registration before the Banquet. Passes can also be purchased at the Public Safety Building (PSB) during regular hours. Parking for the Banquet may be a bit trickier. Parking is free after 7pm. Before that, I suggest parking in Lot S, the visitor Lot V, or looking for metered parking.

Temperatures:

Expect sunny skies and highs in the high 50’s or low 60’s, and lows near freezing. For predictions, visit the Weather Channel.

Things to do:

It’s Las Vegas, you figure it out. Hoover Dam is about 45 minutes away. There is also hiking in Red Rock Canyon (~45 minutes away); there will probably be snow on Mt. Charleston, but not enough for skiing (~1hr away); Zion is about 3 hours away, and Bryce Canyon is just beyond that (I don’t know whether the elevation will prevent access); the south rim of the Grand Canyon is 4 to 5 hours away (the north rim will be closed). It’s a good time of year to visit Death Valley (~ 3hrs away).

Funding:
We have funding (9/7/04)! NSA (National Security Agency) has let me know, unofficially, that the grant will be funded. Official notification is not expected until October or November. I expect enough support for at least twelve people. So if you are junior faculty or a graduate student and wish to attend but need support, please contact me asap. If you have a graduate student who you think should attend, please have them contact me and contact me directly too (kind of like a letter of support). I will try to sort out the requests and indicate how much funding will be available to each individual. I'll also have to find out details of how the funding works. Keep in mind, funding from the NSA grant goes to US citizens and permanent residents only (an NSA requirement). However, the NTF (Number Theory Foundation) has also given us a grant ($1000) for travel for graduate students and junior faculty who do not meet the citizenship/residency requirements of the NSA grant.

Problem Sets:
Each West Coast Number Theory Conference includes one or two problem sessions, where problems are posed and sometimes solved. The list of problems are currently being maintained by Gerry Myerson. Comments on any problems should be forward to him at gerry@ics.mq.edu.au. Links below are to the list of problems from previous years.

The problem set for 2003.
Problem sets from previous years (care of Bart Goddard's page).

Created by Arthur Baragar, baragar@unlv.nevada.edu.